Wow, looks like another fine product from Research In (slow)Motion. Didn't flip phones go out of style years ago?? Can this company be any further out of touch.

There is still a large segment of the cell phone using population that insists on flip phones. Dunno why, but I know a few folks who won't use anything else. This is RIM's attempt to market a BlackBerry to those folks.

I don't know about the wisdom of that strategy. Flip phone users are a notoriously low-tech bunch, using their phones for (gasp!!) voice calls primarily. Not exactly the crowd that will embrace the BlackBerry platform.

The Style could also be just another form factor for RIM. Trying something different, maybe generate a little excitement. Again, perhaps a dubious strategy, but a lot will hinge (no pun intended!) on execution. The original Pearl Flip 8200 was very poorly made. Creaky and a ton of lag in the OS. And the screen was too small for reading/composing emails comfortably.

We'll see how RIM does on their second attempt. I'm going to take a look, but it's got to be a pretty spiffing piece of kit to get me to lay down my 9650!